1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of packaging and transporting sensitive electronic components including spring-loaded suspension assemblies with or without additional components such as test boards or electronic sensors/transducers, test boards alone or other components. More particularly, the invention relates to improved containers for packaging these sensitive electronic components during transport and handling, whether in manual or automated systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of devices have been designed to hold and protect sensitive electronic components during transport and handling. Many of these devices are not, however, adapted for use in modern automated handling systems.
A disadvantage of prior art containers is that many are typically capable of holding components of only one size, necessitating the use of different containers for different components.
The sensitivity of the components has, in the past, added to the handling and transport costs. This has been exacerbated in situations where it is necessary to transfer the components from one station to another, such as during cleaning, testing and other processing. In particular, the components must usually be removed from the prior art containers to clean them, significantly increasing the cost of cleaning.
Particular problems are associated with the transport and handling of magnetic transducer heads and their suspension assemblies. The transducer heads are used for loading and retrieving electronic data off storage media, such as the hard disks which are found in personal computers. Transducer heads are commonly supported during operation by a suspension assembly which includes a gimble spring or load beam for mounting the transducer head relative to a mounting plate of the assembly. During assembly, the gimble spring is precisely loaded to a predetermined deflection, in a procedure which is commonly known as gram-loading. Upon assembly of the suspension assembly and head into a disk drive, the proper deflection will ensure that the head is spaced a precise, predetermined distance from the magnetic disk.
If the deflection is disturbed during transport of the suspension assembly from its point of manufacture to assembly into a disk drive, the spacing will be disturbed, and the disk drive itself may be rendered inoperable. It is also important to prevent exposure of the assembly and head to contaminants during transport and processing. Consequently, suspension assemblies must be treated with extreme care during their transport and handling.
Additional difficulties have been encountered when transporting suspension assemblies which may or may not have extremely fine wire leads attached to them, and the leads, in turn, may or may not have test boards attached to their opposite ends. In addition to the difficulties associated with transporting the suspension assemblies without disturbing their preset deflection, the attached wire leads and, possibly, test boards also must be transported without detaching them from the electronic sensors/transducers to which they are attached. In addition, unsecured test boards or wire leads can damage or contaminate the sensors/transducers.
It is clear that there has existed a long and unfilled need in the art for an improved method and apparatus for packaging sensitive electronic components during transport and handling in manual or automated systems.